SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on a legal fight over an abortion for a pregnant teenage immigrant detained in Texas after crossing the border (all times local):
2:30 p.m.
A federal judge won’t order federal officials to allow a pregnant 17-year-old being held in a Texas facility for unaccompanied immigrant children to get an abortion.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler ruled Wednesday that the legal challenge on behalf of the girl by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California was not filed in the right court.
The ACLU says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is refusing to let the girl be taken to a facility for an abortion.
Beeler said the girl could raise the same issue in a new lawsuit. ACLU attorney Brigitte Amiri said the group hadn’t decided its next step, but would continue to fight for the girl’s right to an abortion.
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11 a.m.
A federal judge in California says she doesn’t understand why federal officials don’t step aside and allow a pregnant 17-year-old being held in a Texas facility for unaccompanied immigrant children to get an abortion.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler also said Wednesday during a hearing in San Francisco that she didn’t think the legal challenge on behalf of the girl by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California belonged in her courtroom.
Beeler said the girl had no connection to Northern California.
The judge did not immediately issue a ruling on the ACLU’s request for an order that the girl be allowed to get an abortion.
The ACLU says the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is refusing to let the girl be taken to a facility for the procedure.
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10:15 p.m.
Advocates for a pregnant 17-year-old being held in a Texas facility for unaccompanied immigrant children are asking a federal judge to allow her to get an abortion over the opposition of federal and state officials.
A judge has scheduled a hearing Wednesday on a request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. It accuses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of refusing to let the girl be taken for the procedure.
Rochelle Garza, a lawyer appointed to represent the Central American girl’s interests, told The Associated Press that the girl may be 14 weeks pregnant. Texas state law prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton argued Tuesday that immigrants entering the U.S. illegally do not have “a constitutional right to abortion on demand.”
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